Iron Tide
by gentlemen genocide machine
Summary: Of all the things that can happen to a person, it had to happen to me (this is based off of some self insert fiction that can be found on space battle forums and sufficient velocity. had to use total annihilation due to planetary annihilation not having a entry)
1. chapter one

chapter one: The commander

Y'know, it's not everyday that you get to wake up to the sound of entering a planets atmosphere.

Though i also had the unfortunate privilege to feel the sensation of entering said atmosphere.

It was surprisingly cosy.

After what seemed like hours, well it felt like hours, i reached the surface.

My vision was obstructed by the ridiculous amount of smoke and airborne dirt. I contemplated wether or not stay in my newly made dirt hole, which was surprisingly comfortable thanks to it being made of crushed rock.

I decided that i wasn't going to spend my time in a crater, so i begun to climb out.

I didn't expect to find a large claw in place of my left hand.

Or a Cannon in place of my right forearm.

So, I'm a giant robot apparently.

Neat.

it was certainly odd walking on four legs, four heavily armoured legs at that.

And there, done. Though now came the serious problems.

1, THE FUCK HAPPENED.

2, Who in their seemingly endless and divine wisdom thought it'd be a great idea to put some schmuck in what i can only imagine as some kind of self perpetuating death engine.

3, THE FUCK.

"Oi, get movin', ya git! the shiny came down right over 'ere!".

oh fuck me in the alps.

/00/

"BY THE FESTERING PUSTULES OF NURGLE'S ASS CHEEKS, WHY MUST I BE TORTURED SO!"

While i may be a 50 or so meter tall death machine that didn't mean i couldn't just solve my current problem with good old fashioned fist'i cuff's.

I brought my nearest leg down upon the closest ork, thankfully i was able to stomp on it diagonally for an instant kill, but now i had a few left to deal with. I didn't really bother listening due to the crushing realization that i was put into a commander, droped into the most terrifying and bat shit insane universe man has ever Invisioned and slam bamed straight in front of most violent and viscouse race on the planet.

And that's not getting into the OTHER viscouse and violent races on the planet.

Still, what alleviated my despair was the fact that, perhaps, i would eventually meet those fellows befallen with a similar fate to my own.

In truth, That would have made me laugh if i had thought or said that now, but enough about the me from the future. The forest i had found myself in was definitely ork infested, and where one is more are sure to follow, which didn't leave me much time to prepare.

My commander's armamentarium became known to me, how? I'm not sure possibly it may have either been my current situation or my distresse. Never the less my arsenal was quite impressive, the right arm was effectively a scaled up gauss weapon similar to what the necrons field, an internal shield emmiter and a 'reactive defence system'.

That sounded interesting.

Now came one of now many problems that I've had to face.

Production.

Checking the commander frame i was in shown nothing that could be close to a frabricator, instead i found something better.

Far, far better.

And it was the thing powering my giant robot body, the thing that i know inside and out.

I made it after all.

The hell engine.

A device of unknown origin, constantly producing an infinite amount of energy and nanomachine's. Whoever decided to dump me in a giant death robot powered by it is now officially my new favourite person.

With that out if the way it was time for action.

My sensor array was already picking up a small force of greenskins heading towards me, i turned my commander in their direction and begun to advance.

Below me, a sea of black flowed forth. An ever growing number of billions and billions of nanites flowed outward all around me.

With a mighty WAAAAAGH the orks charged.

Aiming my right arm at them i fired, what i expected to happen was that any unfortunate ork hit would be torn apart. Their molecules ripped from one another and used to power the next shot.

What i didn't expect was for it to destroy said molecules.

Turrets and missile launchers formed across my frame in response to the enemies numbers.

While the orks where being eviscerated at a surprisingly quick rate, the black sea around me begun to be populated by more than myself. Rising from the sea where vaguely humanoid lumps of nanites, gaining more definition as they moved forward, right arms raised at their enemy begun to morph, twist and warp into weapons.

Once they reached the edge of the sea did they completely form, a primarily skeletal like frame with a standard humanoid height and build. Everything below the right elbow was replaced with a semi-automatic rifle capable of rapid or three burst firing.

What orks remained from my own onslaught were being picked off by my newly made drones, though there was the frustrating problem that was kommando's, ork nobs that took keenly to stealth and 'kunning'.

Rather than spend possibly days looking for and killing some bigger orks, i decided on the next best thing.

Burn everything.

And that, my friend, is how i won my first battle.


	2. chapter two

chapter two: Castle

With the surrounding rainforest burnt to a crisp, i set about building up my forces.

Yeah i had my commander and my now hundred or so drones but I didn't expect to win against bigger army's like the imperial' will drown me in corpses' guard or the ork WAAAAAGH i was practically sitting next to.

First things first: A big ass wall. Thick and reinforced enough to buy me enough time to build up a sizable force.

And while i may not have precursor hypertech bullshit, i DID however have the next best thing. Necrotic techno bullshit in the form of the hell engine.

Which got me thinking, my nanomachine's got to work building the wall, what being would not only put me into a commander but also have the power to turn something that was fictional into an actual thing, the rate of production was at an acceptable speed as the wall was already up to my 'knees'.

Now for my drones. While they did work as functional infantry they were practically made of tissue paper, a problem covered by the ridiculous regeneration that my nanomachine's provided.

A new model was needed, a better design for combat. The new model still kept the cyclopean camera in the centre of the machines 'face', overall it was more closer to a proper humanoid machine than the previous model and rather than replacing the entire forearm with a weapon it'd just be the hand.

And now for the best part. Vehicles.

Considering who I'd probably be fighting for a while going with something that could burn things would be best.

Thus the dominator.

I based it off my commander, sans the top half. A quadrupedal unit designed to fit the role of both tank and mobile ordinance, four legs comprised of

segmented and serated treads with the top being a spiked and jagged four barrelled turret.

Arial units were also on my to do list, but with my current forces i was a little confident. Rising up from the primordial ooz was the construct that would produce my new toys, four entertwined tendrils rose up taking their place. Bars shot out, connecting the tendrils as the structure begun to take shape.

Now it was more a collection of spikes and jagged shapes than a factory, atop it was...a mouth. No seriously there was a mouth, a gapping metal maw continually spewing out smoke. I...can work with this, i definitely can work with this, the front was less weird as it was a simple conveyor belt that...was..also coming out of a mouth.

Now normally, if i recall, this would be the moment when i would be gathering resources for production. But unlike other commanders or even the other forces on kronus, i didn't need resources.

As long as i had a single nanomachine and energy, i could make anything.

A gap was forming in the wall.

Time to kill me some orks.


	3. chapter three

Chapter Three: Assault

The battlefield was nothing but crater's and bodies.

Gorgutz stronghold was easy to find, can't miss the obvious collection of red standing out among a rainforest.

The first volley came from my three thousand drones, bodies warped and changing into collections of weapons on weapons, firing on everything in an endless hail of bullets, missiles and other ordinance.

The orks that charged were evicerated by the overwhelming hail of munitions.

I couldn't call this a slaughter, let alone a massacre.

It was like cutting the grass on the frontyard with napalm.

The second volley came from my fifty dominators, incindiary artillery burning away at the growing piles of corpses and any ork unfortunate to survive the storm of metal that came before.

The green hord was thinning, momentarily, which allowed me the chance to move in. The drones would deal with the greenskines while my dominators would fire upon any structure in sight, the heat from their rounds would be more than enough to melt the metallic parts.

But there was the main problem.

Gorgutz.

For an ork, he was smart, which is bad. For a warboss, he was also not above leaving the planet when things stopped going his way, which is also bad.

What I'd need to do is find the jolly green bastard before he could skitter away in one of his escape tunnels.

Yes, he had escape tunnels.

" _I know yer out dere, tin can. Not dat 'ard ta miss"._

Oh fuck.

Okay, okay. deep breaths. you got this Kieran.

"Funny, I'd expect the warboss at the front of his WAAAGH and yet he isn't. I'm surprised any of these idiots still follow someone so... cowardly".

I strolled through, i made this body to fight a warboss and i didn't want it to go to waste.

" _Heh, I'd a'v krumped ya for dat if yer 'ere worth kill'n humie. Now where's dat tin can"_.

Ah, that's...huh.

I honestly didn't expect for him to mistake me for a human, which was strange seeing as how my body was the only human like thing amongst my forces.

Oh yeah about that, i based my warboss killing body off my old one. And about my commander, i was upgrading it.

I couldn't help shaking my head to clear it.

So, I'd have to go with plan B.

When it came to WAAAGH's there where two important things.

One was the warboss, kill him and the whole thing turns on itself to see who's bid and bad enough to be the new warboss.

Two was the WAAAGH banners, can't have a proper WAAAGH without WAAAGH banners.

I directed small squads of drones to search for any banners and burn them.

If gorgutz wouldn't come out and face me, then I'd just take his forces from him.

However.

"WAAAAGH!".

I found myself the target of a sizable ork nob clade in crude power armour.

I hadn't a need to worry about it's shoota, the rounds would simply be assimilated by my nanomachine's.

It swiped at me with it's power klaw, i met it with my own.

I brought my left arm up, the limb blooming into a spiky, jagged shield. It did it's job well despite the majority of it now dented inwards by the attack, i didn't give the large greenskin time to recover.

I thrusted my shield arm at it, a blade shooting out finding itself in the gap between the shoulder and the rest of the body. With a push i severed it's left arm from it's form, which no doubt angered the behemoth.

It brought its klaw down on me again which i met with my right arm, the limb warping and rearranging into a mimicry of the orks weapon.

Both limbs crashed into eachother, the nobs power klaw crumpled like paper.

Letting loose another roar, it launched itself again only to be cut down by a dominator.

I continued on, before me was a massive tower haphazard in construction and covered in red painted metal plates leading into a large plate shaped crudely into a form similar to an orks face culminating into a large WAAAGH sign.

My limb's changed and reformed into an array of explosive weapons and along with my forces that where around me, opened fire upon the banner.

It was surprisingly sturdy. But after five hours of the continuous barrage it fell. I didn't want to leave things to chance so i took control of a few drones that had traveled to where i think the banners are.

So, first place. Good, good, definitely done.

Second place, same. Which is great.

Third, Awesome.

While i directed those drones and a few more to search for more possible banners, i decided to take the majority and head for the heart of the camp.

It wasn't an uneventful trip, there was the odd ork attack here and there. A few gretchins even.

Ultimately, i had arrived and i did not expect what i was going to find.

The heart of gorgutz base was deserted, everywhere i looked not a single ork could be found. Of course i was on edge, nothing like this meant things would be good.

My drones broke down and entered every building that was around while i continued onward towards the centre.

Status reports flooded my vision.

Well, i didn't have to worry about WAAAGH banners anymore and what was left of gorgutz WAAAGH has all but dissolved. Though the fact that said warboss was worringly silent didn't help.

"My lord, we have entered the main structure".

Huh, they've learned to talk. Neat.

"And?".

"There is a bomb".

What.

"What".

"There is a bomb. A large bomb".

"...a bomb".

And said bomb picked then to explode.


	4. chapter four

chapter four: Trenches

Nu'Vel focused on the sound of the rain.

His mind cleared as he focused on the sound of the rain hitting off the makeshift roof of the forward camp. It had been a month since the black wall appeared, seemingly overnight.

As he recalled from the briefing, the site was once home to a skirmish between the orks and a short lived alliance with the imperial guard.

The entire land was mutilated with trench after trench, there were reports of an object suddenly appearing in kronus's orbit before making land fall near the green coast.

A large amount of the coast's forest had been burned down and strange enough a wall like structure was growing a day after.

The reports soon died down with the large explosion at what was once the ork's main camp, all that remained was a large crater.

Whoever.

A day later a massive army was seen by drones scouting near leaving the wall.

And heading towards ta'shuun.

Aun'el shi'ores had sent diplomat's to the wall in hopes of avoiding conflict with a new, unknown force and perhaps gain an ally.

They haven't been heard from since.

Suddenly, nu'vel's concentration was interrupted by a familiar face.

"What?, still spacing out before missions?".

"Come now bah'ro, there's no need for that". The aforementioned fire warrior let go of nu'vel as the third tau walked over to join them.

Nu'vel's fellow fire warriors were bah'ro and a'val, he had known the two ever since he had joined the tau military. By luck or something more he seemed to always find himself with them on missions or deployments, even outside of combat.

"Sorry, i take it that it's time for the briefing?".

A small number of the tau force was sent to intercept the still unknown force moving towards them.

Nu'vel, Bah'ro and ah'val were among the numbers in the makeshift command post while the rest where station among the trenches outside.

"The enemy forces have begun to reach the first sector, you are to hold the first sector until we receive word from our forward scouts".

"Whoever, if they do not or cannot send word back then we will have no choice than to consider this a declaration of war".

Sha'el null kauis paused to allow his troops time to take in his words, he couldn't help but wonder about the strange force he was about to face. He couldn't help but think of the ways things could end badly from one single decision made by him, he pushed those thoughts aside thinking on only the negatives would do no good.

"Take up your positions and ready yourselves. For the greater good".

With that the fire warriors begun to exit the command post.

"Nu'vel, Bah'ro, Ah'val. I need to speak with you".

They stopped and exchanged looks of confusion as they obliged they're superior.

Sha'el nul kauis leand on the device in the centre of the 'command room', a few terminals manned by earth cast tau and a rectangular 'table' which the three fire warriors stood around.

On it was displayed a holographic real time map of the battlefield, marked on it was the various positions of defence that they were able to put up along with the positions of the various tau troops that manned them.

On the side that nul kauis stood was a massive force of red dots that advanced towards the defensive line.

And too quickly at that.

"You three are going to be put on a covert operation." he gestured to the map, specifically to a dot that was larger than the others "each of the unit's appear to emit a traceable energy signature, we believe this one to be in a position of leadership or importance."

"An assassination?." bah'ro mused.

"Yes. They may utilise a means of coordination similar to that of the tyranids."

"Nu'vel will be the sniper, I've heard of your marksmanship. I'm sure it will come in handy." nul kauis turned to bah'ro. "Bah'ro will provide fire power Incase any of you are discovered. Ah'val will scout out the way incase of any enemy activity along the way.".

Sha'el nul kauis moved to open a nearby container, handing over to nu'vel a heavily modified raile rifle.

Nu'vel checked it over.

"A prototype." Nul kauis explained "While it packs more of a punch compared to most weapons it practically has no fire rate to speak of.".

Nul kauis moved back to the map.

/

The rain poured as the three maneuverd around the rocky ridges that overlooked the area.

Distant booms of thunder echoed in the distance, a sea of red lights could be seen for miles.

"Damn."

"Looks like we'll have an easy time getting to the nest" ah'val typed away at the pad she held as the two scout drones returned from their patrol.

"The fool's. They expect us to hold out against that?".

What else could they do, the majority of the tau army on kronus was currently battling the blood ravens with shas'o Kai's at it's head. Even if they had finished the battle there was no telling if they could make it back in time to bolster what remained of the forces here.

"Don't seem to have a choice" bah'ro rebutted nu'vel as the three made their way.

The sniper nest wasn't much, four pole's held up a camouflaged tarp.

The three set about readying for the operation, nu'vel unslung the rifle and made some last few checks before getting into a fireing position while bah'ro readyed for a possible ambush. Ah'val had sent the drones out to scout around the area just in case there was anything missed.

/

The roar of gunfire consumed the land as rounds of plasma and nanomatter were exchanged.

Fire warrior's launched their salvos at the encroaching cyclopean machines, defending themselves with flash formed shields as they advanced.

The sea of red would be occasionally illuminated by the thunderstrikes showing the tau their enemy for a brief moment.

But that moment was all they needed.

Along with doing the obvious and shooting at the red orbs those with heavy artillery had used that moment to lock on to the position of the machines and fired, clouds of dirt and steel exploded from the ground.

However.

The legions of machines continued forward without end.

And the tau's endless hail of munitions responded in kind.

Suddenly, a blazing light pierced the darkness of the night. And incinerated the fire warriors.

"..." in contrast to his surroundings, the knight shone as though the night was an illusion enforced further by his sword that blazed like the sun.

The army of machines marched past him, the ashes of the enemy falling like snow among the rain.

It wasn't long before the bolts of plasma rained down once more. His azure cloak swayed slightly along the wind "I see, quite impressive" the knight strode as he joined the assault.

The hailstorm of tau projectiles was frantic, not helped by the constant assault from the practically impossible weapons that they deployed.

All they could see of it was a crimson garment, blitzing across the battlefield accompanied by an endless volley of rifles and bullet's.

Discarded rifles were the only sign that it had carved it's way through area, what befuddled most was the rifles that materialised and some how suspended themselves in the air and fired, even though there was no visible means for the primitive firearms to fire.

"Well, it can't be helped. A small force like this pulling out the big guns against an army like ours makes sense" The crimson blur's feminine force spoke out, seemingly to no one.

Deep behind the mechanical legion it stood.

Towering over it's fellow drones, back covered in inward curving spikes. It's entire right forearm was a twisting, jagged cannon infact it's form too was twisting and jagged creating an image of an obsidian demon of steel. Black vapor wisped off it's joint's and the crimson orb at the centre of it's skull glared at the distant battle.

"Hmm... while i must admit their resilience is impressive I'm unsure if you should've done all of this just to prove a hunch".

"Perhaps...but if I'm proven then we've much to do" it replied.

The person that accompanied it could best be described as a 'beach beauty', which explained her out of place attire.

The only thing that stood between her and the rain was the beach parasol in her hands.

/

The demonic machine was in his sights.

The rain raged all around him, thunder in the distance.

The familiar sounds of battle could be heard, muffled a bit thanks to distance.

Nu'vel readied himself as he wrapped his finger around the trigger.

The iron demon waved it's arm to and fro, directing the legion of steel.

Strangely, there was a scantily clad human accompanying it. He paid this no mind.

Soon, silence took over as the Myriad cacophony of sound died down. All that came to nu'vel's hearing was his own heart beat.

The rain raged on, the wind blew on, the battle in the distance waged on.

Then.

The entire battle field was Illuminated by a mighty bolt of thunder.

And.

/

"Huh?".

Lancer's fox ears perked up.

"Did you hear somethi-".

As she turned to ask the machine she found it no longer standing next to her.

Instead it was now collapsed on the ground, the black wisps no longer moving as a black semi-liquid oozed from it's joints and far more from the hole where the right half of it's head was.

"...And it was new too" a drone complained as it walked over.

"I didn't even get to try it" lancer sighed as the machine started to breakdown into more of the obsidian fluid.

A massive construct flew overhead as it charged forth.

/

"The targets been eliminated".

And yet.

The legions of machines battled on.

"Damn".

"Ah'val" bah'ro turned to her "send word back to command, of course things weren't going to be that easy".

As nu'val stood up he couldn't help but feel as though...as though something was wrong.

"What?" It was quite the rare sight of ah'val being puzzled by something, especially the thing puzzling her being the pad that was practically attached to her. "Something's jamming the connection. It wasn't there a few minutes ago".

In that split second, it was as if a higher power or something else had invaded his mind and had forced a limited foreknowledge unto him.

"Wha-!" nu'val tackled ah'val to the ground.

"Bah'ro!".

The nest, the spiked wall of rocks behind them.

Everything above bah'ro's waist.

Was suddenly gone.

The rain pelted his visor has he glared at the towering, looming metal beast.

All he could make out of it in the darkness was the glowing geometric green shapes across its 'chest' and what could have been it's 'mouth', the things yellow 'eyes' glared back.

And then a bolt of thunder illuminated it.

A humanoid shape, horns on the sides of it's head. Six blades, three each extending from it's forearms.

"Getter..." it spoke.

"...Wing"

Massive bat like wings sprung from it's back and flew off.

In the direction of ta'shuun.


	5. Chapter five

Chapter five: Crossroads

"The defenses are ready, shas o' kais".

The reports were troubling.

"Excellent, return to your post".

A new force that the tau were forced to fight, a force that could not be reasoned with or be enlightened by the greater good. The reports alone showed him enough, massive bulky machines that could easily grapple with battlesuits, machines that would simply pull themselves back together no matter how damaged they were. And the reports of hundreds being cut down by a single strike from human like foes.

Shas o' kais had fortified the city as quickly as he could, mobilised his forces to make ta'shuun the most fortified position on Kronus.

"Sir!, enemy sighted!" the radio crackled.

"Where?".

"On the horizon!, long range bombardment on your command".

"Fire".

The massive rail cannons station across the defensive wall orientated themselves and fired and fired and fired joined by wave aftet wave of missiles.

The tau commander hoped that would buy enough time for him to secure transport's to move the civilian population out of the battlefield that the tau settlement would soon become.

However.

The symphony of firepower was soon joined by a ominous cackling.

Two firewarriors who were manning a post on the wall shifted a bit, unnerved by the strange sound, and continued to observe the enemy ready to report any sudden developments.

"...do you hear some-".

They, along with the portion of the wall they where on, was cut clean off into pieces.

The massive sycth like blade boomeranged through the air.

An arm suddenly shot out of the earth, the pink limb grabbed the weapon. Soon the rest of it rose up, a primarily red skeletal like machine with pink limbs and a pink skeletal face. The metal giant attached the blade to the side of it's head opposite another blade.

"B-by the ethereal's!, what is that!?".

Beams shot out from the ground, disintegrating any who where unfortunate to be in their path.

Another beastly machine rose up, navy blue and green. It's two heads snaked about, red dots for eyes and a grin like 'mouth' while there appeared to be missiles in it's abdomen.

"Garuda k7!" a female voice roared.

"Doublas m2!" a male voice roared as well.

"Slaughter these fools who would oppose lord hades!" both commanded.

And so, the two machines begun to wreak havoc amongst the tau army.

"What is this!?, how did they!?" shas o' kais quickly took command and ordered an assault comprised of battlesuits and manta rays to strike at the creatures.

Whoever.

It was as though the thing's were made of an almost unbreakable let alone scratchable alloy, the mechanised and vehicular infantry unloaded in vain as the two beast's destroyed everything around them.

Doublas unleashed beams from it's eyes, cutting through the unfortunate battlesuit that was in it's way and the buildings past it. Garuda removed both of it's blades and swung, it's arms extending as it swung about cleaving apart any around it.

Garuda had turned its attention to the battlesuits that where quite literally up in it's face, unloading as much ammo as possible. It responded by firing bombs from its eye's.

Doublas whoever was swarmed, and tripped as it was walking backwards from it's foes who had their spirits rise from the apperant Victory which sadly was short lived, doublas's heads rose up and blasted them as it got up.

"Ignore these arrogant bug's, garuda, doublas" the male voice rung out "go!, destroy the plaza!".

The two war machines ceased their slaughtering and begun to make their way to unity plaza.

"Destroy!?, all units move to protect unity plaza!".

Both metal beasts were assaulted by the growing force of the tau trying to halt or delay their travel.

Doublas fired the missiles in its abdomen, the red tipped explosives making an unlucky few their victims, some destroying buildings.

Garuda swung it's blade at the battlesuits that buzzed around it, cutting down three and disabling two. Both the metal horrors cut through the desperate defence and found the plaza.

"Hahahahahahahahah!, pathetic!, truly pathetic!. If you're weapons can't even scratch the weakest of lord hades's machines then what hope do you have against his strongest!" the female voice laughed.

"Now!, doublas, garuda!. Destroy the tau communication array!" both commanded as the beast's tore at the plaza. Doublas tore into the building with it's claws and smashed it's heads into it like hammers into plastic, garuda punched and kicked into it, slashing away with the blade From the left side of it's head.

"I did not expect the man of iron to arrive so quickly".

The rumbling of the distant battle could be felt all the way there.

"Then there is no time to be lost".

The meeting between farseer taldeer and ethereal aun'el shi'ores was interrupted due to the sudden rumbling that overtook the city and the distant booms of battle.

"I shall make haste to ready my warhost, i suggest you do what you can for your people, aun'el".

Before he could reply or for both to leave the room, the ground rumbled and soon burst outward. Parts of the ceiling fell as the obscured, massive drill ceased spinning.

Taldeer was already preparing to unleashe a spell and aun'el had aimed his honour blade in its direction.

The drill parted and a figure hidden in a purple cloak walked out.

"Farseer taldeer..." a male voice spoke.

"...And ethereal aun'el shi'ores" a female voice spoke.

"Behold!!, this emissary from hell!!. Asura MK9!!" both Voices roared as the figures hood was lifted back.

It mechanical nature was obvious as soon as they saw it's face, a robotic mask whose right side was oddly feminine while the right was oddly masculine, it's face was primarily silver while where the hair should be was instead a black crest or headpiece.

"Is this... truly the extent of the man of iron's arsenal?".

"...You bug, under normal circumstances i would have killed you for daring to disrespect lord hades. However!" asura suddenly shouted, taldeer had let out a silent curse as events played out in defiance of her visions.

"The very act of comparing such a grand being as lord Hades to something as pathetic as a man of iron... **_YOU'VE ONLY AIDED IN MY MISSION!!"._**

"And what is your mission, machine?".

"Hmph. My mission eldar, was to determine if you where here" asura's male half spoke "My lord's attack against such insignificant bugs as the tau, was but a means to reach this city. Once here he would have left no stone unturned to find even the smallest trace of your presence here" asura's female half explained.

Asura turned to aun'el "Ethereal, my lord also had tasked me to send a message. He, in his infinite grace, is willing to turn the other cheek and allow you to leave the planet".

And with that asura returned to the drill, the massive tool closing up and leaving.

The two stood there in silence, both mulling over the machines words.

"Hmm...shas o'kais" aun'el said as he opened the communications channel to the tau commander.

"Aun'el, unity plaza has fallen. The machines have stopped their advance as well...what is it's demands" he replied already aware that the ethereal had been spoken to.

"Search for survivors, shas o. I shall send word for transports".

"You would really believe it's word?, there is no telling what this 'hades' plans are. He could very well be using you as a means to find the third sphere fleet and plunder it of your people's technology".

"Perhaps, but i will not let paranoia of a machines actions lead to more tau deaths, taldeer. Leave, you've done enough".

/

The legions of metal marched upon the blighted earth.

Dominators raced through as the ground was thrown up by their treads.

Flying overhead and racing on the ground where a new unit in the army.

It's form was a standard humanoid build. Boxy rectangular pauldrons made up it's shoulders, the forearms ending in a hand guard over the unit's hands while also having a sheath storing collapsible short swords.

The heads upper half was almost bulbous but this was thanks to the curved plate that covered an advanced sensor array, it's 'face' was a 'Y' formation of red lines that were merely hundreds of cameras.

It's torsos upper half was wide so as to make room for the manipulator rail arm system that stored the wide spread standard of a gattling cannon and a sword. The lower half was comprised of a narrower abdomen and waist.

In contrast, the machines legs were of a smoother design. The flat headed bulky knee guards were actually apart of the rest of the lower leg, the armour plating was wrapped around the primary joint for better protection. The leg ended in a single 'toe' foot designed for all terrain travel and was equipped with two small anti gravity devices.

Alongside the 'skirt' armour where the units primary propulsion engines, attached to the hips. Along with high speed travel and it's purpose of high speed combat it was capable of indefinite aerial deployment.

The aptly named tactical surface fighter due to it's limitless functionality in almost any non space deployment with a limited atmospheric functionality.

The TSF V-80 'Vulture'.

Twenty five squadrons, comprised of ten 'vultures' each, spearheaded the iron horde in a 'v' formation.

Overhead, deep behind in the distance.

Where three jet's.

All heading towards the word bearers.


	6. Chapter six

Chapter six: Einsatz

[A.N: Iron tide is now officially my longest fanfiction to date, yay.

So an overview.

After 40k i was thinking of moving my newest chew toy into a gundam universe, perhaps 00. I looked through the reviews and saw the one that talked about familiar of zero, probably not going to be in an 'official' chapter but i could play around with it in an extra one.

I appreciate the feedback my story is getting and would like to thank everyone who decided to read and follow this.

And for a little preview of what's to come, one word.

Demonbane.]

In the first hour alone, hundreds of thousands had died.

I did my best to not care.

They made their choice, even if it was better than the imperium's rule there was nothing to benefit from chaos.

The hords of cultists were easy enough to deal with, what with having 20 meter tall mecha and unending waves of drones gun them down. The airborne vulture's zipped about as they fired their p 90's into the flood of corrupted bodies.

It seemed that the chaos astartes themselves were a no show, which meant they where in their temples.

Fighting a demon, never thought I'd get a chance like that.

My dominators charged through their deranged ranks reducing most into a red viscera, racing along as they opened fire on everything around them. I'm not sure what effect the warp might have on my tech so letting my second largest and better armoured unit's go in first and see what happens.

"Status: tenth TSF squadron in position, squads twenty two and twenty three have been terminated".

Well shit.

Something needed killing.

I directed my attention back to the dominators.

Good news. Not a single one was suddenly turning around and firing at my forces shouting about chaos.

Better new. Some had found temples to the local 'totally not chaos you guys honest' temples and smashed straight through like a high speed car through a wall.

Best new. Killed a chaos marine or two.

"Automaton".

Holy shit that voice was smooth as fuck holy shit.

Why does eliphas have to sound so amazing jesus that voice was...just _oozing_ 'i'm better than you and i know'.

I wonder if i can steal voices.

"Flesh pawn".

I just realized how many people that could have summed up.

And i just killed most of them.

"Oh?, Taldeer's pet robot can speak! Interesting, fascinating even. I had assumed you where like the necrons, silent, an ever marching wall of death...and without soul or humanity. But one glance and how could i ignore the vast, massive inferno that was your soul... your making this _too_ easy" he chuckled.

The bulk of my force's had broke through the remainder of the cults and set about crushing the temples.

"Though i am curious, _why_ do you fight us machine. Even the gods have a place for you".

Why...

Why?...

"Why?. The answer is quite simple, inheritor. Chaos is a reflection of life, I'm sure you know, and life is inherently...self destructive...".

"Chaos is in constant flux, I'm sure you're aware, four gods, four way of things, four painters trying to paint over each others brush strokes faster than the others...This alone has kept your precious gods in line, and has wrecked havoc for those who the gods feed off of".

"The chaos god's aren't really gods. Powerful, yes. But what are they, truly?".

Yes, what _where they_ ?.

"I'll tell you what they are, _O' Inheritor mine_ , they are but parasites... Gatherings of thoughts, ideas, emotions and much more... enough to achieve something similar to self awareness and sapients, and with that...fear."

"Fear?, you assume much machine. What, pray tell would the god's fear?."

"What they were before, becoming a being that is not only aware of it's self on a existential level but developing an 'I', forming an 'me'. Becoming individual beings than what they were before."

"Isn't it terrifying?, knowing that you could go back to that state of nonbeing all because of a little slip up, losing that 'me', losing that 'I'...And what comes after?, is it the same being as before?, does it remember the 'I' it once was?."

"This state of being can be intoxicating, and what are the ruinous powers made of?, feed off of?. Emotion, idea, thought, they are parasites relying on the very beings that helped form them. And these flawed, monstrous and selfish beings will do anything to survive, to indulge their primitive urges. Even if it destroys them..."

"The warp is influenced by the materium, so tell me word bearer. Everything has an opposite, so, what happens when one believes?."

"...What are you getting at?."

"It's simple. When there is belief there is unbelief. So...when so many believe in something. What happens to that unbelief?."

"Enough death made nurgle, enough change made tzeencth, enough battle made khorn and enough pleasure made slannesh. So, what does enough unbelief make?."

"It makes a god of chaos, of self destruction, a force that destroys itself in an attempt to destroy the very same thing that made it."

"And what does your rant prove?, that you are merely accelerating a hypothetical process?. Chaos cannot be stopped, not by the corpse emperor or by you."

"Oh, but it can. I'd just have to kill every living being with a soul that can think and feel. I'm not sure what would happen to me if i removed my ability to think and feel. But I'm sure it would be better having me around."

"But that's not the point, eliphas. The point is that chaos will destroy itself. It's very nature is without restraint, without reason. Even if chaos won, the armies of demon's would devour faster than soul's could develop. They'd literally starve themselves to death, perhaps you could consider the act of annihilating you all as...mercy."

That should have distracted him long enough, my jet's where already in place.

Heading deeper lead to things that definitely fit the term 'chaos fortress'.

"Mercy?..." he suddenly broke out into a laugh that went on for too long. So demon time or comeback.

"Mercy is for the weak, and you are not only weak, not only mad but insane. While you're little monologue was thought provoking it did little than entertain me. Your soul shall make for a fine offering to the gods, and a fine means for my ascension."

"Alright, eliphas. I'mma let you finish, but i got one question."

This is gonna be fun.

"Ya like death?."

Without warning, a crimson beam rushed forward.

The structures unlucky enough to be in it's path had their void shields bombarded by exotic particles that destabilised it to the point where in five hours it would collapse, and when it did the entire structure simply... dissolved. Any structures near simply found their void shields rapidly destabilising.

While i did enjoy the odd flex now and again i didn't exactly enjoy doing it with anything incomplete, like my commander chassis, that _STILL_ wasn't finished updating. Goddamn O.S.

 _I_ landed. Right Infront of a defiler. I stabbed the thing downward, piercing it's head and chest. TSF V-99 'Susanoo', similar in design to the vulture but designed to fill the traditional role of super prototype. Primarily close quarters based it's arms lacked the hand guards and sheaths of the vulture and instead had an overall smoother limb design. The head too was different, Two proper 'eye' cameras along with an up facing horn.

It's colour scheme was primarily black with blue highlights.

I withdrew my blade.

The beam did it's job of hitting eliphas's fortress of doom.

And missed.

Instead of a hopefully dead chaos lord there was a hole, it wasn't a very big hole but it cut straight through the fotress. Ya did good kid.

Another TSF landed, another susanoo model. There was only three i made, each meant to fulfill the varied purposes that the vulture covered.

The body structure was identical sans the angled head which boasted a compound mono eye along with a sword and shield, the shoulders for the susanoo model featured hidden weapons. either rocket launchers, gattling guns or a superior sensor array to map out the area.

The machines colour scheme was highlighted by silver and was primarily dark gray.

Unlike the vulture, the colour of the cameras could be customized, my _eyes_ were red unlike the other units orange.

"My king, we've lost squads thirteen, five and nineteen.".

"Seriously, what the hell keeps doing that!?.".

Nearby a whole bunch of stuff exploded, said stuff being chaos marines.

The third model landed, the most striking thing about the golden machine was the firepower it packed.

Two anti-ship cannons angled upwards from it's tactical assault unit, both of it's forearms had reinforced shield's equipped along with dual anti-vehical cannons and both hands were explosive, armour piercing assault cannons.

Attached to the sides of it's leg's where launchers equipped with thermal detonator tipped missiles, while the shoulder weapons were normal ones.

The golden machines head was angled downwards, two purple compound mono eyes.

"Maybe someone's messing you, senpai."

I still don't know why she went with such a cute voice.

"Alright, most of eliphas's bases are either being raided or slag, his troops are dropping like flies and there's a hole in his base. There better not be a bloodthirster or so help me god.".

I just had to say it.

My entire sensor array exploded. Staus reports about 'energy spikes' and 'reality restructuring'.

A massive tide of blood exploded from the word bearers stronghold. A collosal red monstrosity walked forth. It was huge. Huge and angry.

Fucking Jinx's.

The greater demon roared as it charged into my army followed by the majority of chaos marines and vehicles under eliphas. They smashed through like a hammer into my Steele legions, the traitors were met with drones shaping their limbs and generating more into blades, the bulky forms of phalanxes blocking attacks and crushing any who fought them. Vultures skating and flying as they shot at the chaos force's.

The removal of the choas warband would have been difficult but doable if it weren't for that bloodthirster jumping in and cleaning house when i had the advantage.

The things durability was stupidly insane, all i could do was hopefully distract it and wipe out as many of these bastard's as possible.

"Let's go!."

Backed up by the others i charged at the beast, sword and axe clashed as i dueled with it. As expected of a demon of khorn it's martial prowess was something else, we exchanged blows. I pushed my frame to it's limit's trying to keep up with the beast's skill, it found its face bashed by a shield as i swapped out.

The dark grey mecha blocked and hacked away at the demon, it's strikes leaving gashes in the thing that stood between it and it's foe.

Before it could land another slash, ot soon found itself bombarded by the gold machines weaponry.

The gold mech hovered around the monster as it continued to unload upon the demon, the machine alone could have decimated a small force of space marines with the weapons it was firing on the demon with.

The three of us continued to distract the bloodthirster, the gold TSF pelting the demon with it's munitions while i and the dark grey machine continued to swap out.

This went on for a good while before the greater demon found a slim window to escape through.

No longer being fought by three mecha at the same time, the bloodthirster went to town on my drones effectively cutting my army down by forty percent.

Alright that's it. Bringing out the big gun's.

Three jet's shot downward.

In the demons direction.

The third jet- considerably bulkier than the others- engines extended and rearranged and morphed along with the rest of the machine into a pair of legs and a pelvis.

The second jet- who's armour was noticeably segmented along with a front that was mostly cone shaped - body rearranged and sans the 'head' collapsed to form an abdomen.

The first jet- which was a mix of both the previous machines along with six short blades, three on each side - moved it's engines up while morphing into a chest with the engine's now in place as both shoulders and biceps.

"Change-!".

 _I_ shouted out, moving myself from the susanoo and into the jets.

"Getter-!".

Getter three docked with getter two, both machines now accelerating towards getter one.

They practically slammed together, all three gett machines combining as the partially formed super robot rocketed to the earth below.

The silver machine formed arms shooting out from it's large shoulders, both new limbs ending in clawed hands and each forearm sporting three razor sharp blades.

Horns extended from the head that formed from getter one's 'nose', green geometric plates formed it's 'mouth' with a green circle on its forehead, two yellow eyes snapping open.

"One!".

'I' landed, honestly that was probably the coolest thing i did recently. I mean it's not everyday you get turned into the personification of 'Fuck the rules i have nanomachines' and get access to tech that can make whatever i can think of or want.

Anyways, my little transformation sequence got the demons attention. Nice that it decided to let me finish.

I slowly walked towards it, the demon seemed to size me up as it too walked over.

[Plasma energy furnace: 1000% operational].

[Jormumgandr drive: Offline].

[Getter Requiem: Systems operational].

The statistics of my new mechs status lit up my vision, going better than the simulations.

we stopped, i glared up at it. My getter was tall enough to come up to the demons chest, it returned my glare in kind. Probably all the stabbing and shooting.

"Senpai, you do realise you could have just shot it while you where still airborne...right?."

"Wheres the fun in that?, besides..."

[Sclash driver deployed].

"...i can take this bastard."

I opened with a right hook to it's stomach moving at super sonic speeds, didn't do much but piss it off and let me punch it with a left hook at equally fast speeds to it's face.

The demon punched back, my getter leaving trails of displaced dirt as it skidded a few miles away from the the khornate.

"Getter tomahawk!."

With my shout the voice activated systems sprung to life, a rod shooting out of the port between 'my' shoulder. Taking it in hand i twirled it around over my head before swinging it down, the tip unfurling into a massive two bladed axe head which didn't go unnoticed as my swing was blocked by it's axe.

I swung at it again and again and again and again, each swing of the tomahawk flying at supersonic speeds as we exchanged blows.

Another blow had sent me back from the demon, my 'body' besides the myriad dents, cuts and gashes was still operable.

Good.

"Getter wing!."

Two bat like wings extended from my 'back', needless to say the speed on this thing was insane. It took me seconds thanks to the getters flight system to get back to and start seriously kicking this assholes ass.

"Plasma-!."

I pointed my 'shoulder's' at the greater demon, both opening to reveal cannons that Extended forward.

"-Cannnon!.'

The beams of plasma shot out at the demon, both searing flesh and melting steel and at such short range would probably do more than just piss it off.

Now it was the jolly red bastard's turn to be hurled around at mach speed. It was sent a good few miles before it righted itself and landed.

"Tomahawk boomerang!."

Now with five more tomahawks, i threw them at the beast. Anti gravity and compact thrusters spun them towards it, three were lodged in its chest and shoulders, two were swatted away and one missed spinning away.

I shot towards it.

"Getter razor!."

The blades on my 'right arm' extended tremendously, i could bisect a ship with these. I swung my blades at it, only for the damn thing to parry.

The blade's on my other arm extended and i spent a good hour or two trying to dice the asshole only it to parry me and land a few hits.

Alright, i tried doing things fair. 'How about i don't use my new mecha at one hundred percent?, seems fair enough'. No.

[Jormungandr drive: Online].

Fuck it, fuck this fight, fuck this planet, fuck chaos, fuck everybody.

"And fuck you!."

Right on time.

A shadow soon descended upon the wastes, covering the battlefield.

up overhead was a ship.

That was the only possible explanation.

But this was _me_ who built it, so anyone who knew me knew what this was.

I flew up to the massive ship.

And grabbed it's handle.

I landed back on the ground brandishing my new _sword_.

Sclash emperor.

With a roar i hefted the massive weapon up, the gigantic machine released cloud's of steam as it begun to open.

The entire rectangular barrel opened, both sides moving downward with the upper half moving farther below. A massive behemoth of a blade extended up from the structure, logically being too big to actually fit in the titanic gun sword.

The blade glowed orange as the metal was heated, anyone without tremendous amounts of armour, agility or powers would find themselves incinerated by the intense heat alone.

This ship killing, fortress crushing, army breaking blade was dropped onto the demon.

"RRRRRRRRGGGHHHHRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!."

The things sheer weight was straining my 'body', why out of everything to keep this damn engine kept my sense of pain!?.

The drones and chaos marines that where near by were reduced to molten slag or thanks to their armour burning alive _in_ molten slag.

Once again the demon raised it's axe to block my blade, and found it's axe being parted by said blade like a thousand degree knife through anything.

The continuously heated up blade sliced through the demon, the blade traveling down it vertically. Flesh was both burning away and turning into glass, armour was melting away and through it all the demon roared as it's form was being annihilated from the physical world.

The blade heated down as it was sheathed, there wasn't much of it's remains left. Just two molten pillars of glass.

The sclash drivers thrusters fired as it flew back to my base.

And in an instant, i was overhead of eliphas's fortress.

A panel on my 'abdomen' opened revealing a circular lens.

"Getter-!."

The lens begun to glow an ominous green.

"-Beam!."

And fired.

The beam of getter ray's cut through the half strength void shield.

Dragging it along, i used the beam to cut through the fortress and begun to dismantle it.

Eliphas's army was either making a mad dash to the warp portal that brought them here or too busy fighting to care.

My drone's flooded forth.

"This isn't over, machine."

It never is.

/

After that all i had to do was check for stragglers and make sure the deimos peninsula was nothing but glass.

The new ships i made helped.

Massive in size, they were comprised of three 'V' shapes segments that if necessary could detach and function independently of eachother.

While the 'annihilators' glassed the peninsula, i checked and double checked and triple checked and spent day's checking for any sign of corruption in my unit's.

After that i just hit the self destruct on them.

While it was a waste of resources, the information gathered would be helpful the next time i had to deal with chaos.

I watched as my army dissolved into inert ash, kind of freaky.

With that done there was one last thing to do.

Take a break.


	7. chapter seven

Chapter seven: Straight to the bone zone

"Farseer taldeer.".

"Kyr." she greeted.

Kyr was a fellow farseer from ulthwe, while one couldn't ignore the good that he had done for the craftworld his more controversial views tended to make working with him... difficult at best.

"From the incessant screaming of 'being boned' flowing from your warlocks maws, the heir of hajun has once more gained control of yet another powerful force that could threaten existence." the farseer surmised.

"...Yes.".

He sighed "Taldeer. Yet you still cling onto visions that are proven again and again to be useless, Whoever this 'black' was he is no hades. The fact that he treated the tau as how the Imperium does shows this.".

Silence was between the two as they watched hades's forces besiege the necrons, the battle between the two armies of metal had lasted week's. The metallic skeletons continually pushing back the ever shifting black flesh of the machines, necrons that found themselves swarmed by the warping and writhing thing's would vanish in emerald lights though due to the nature of necron technology it was difficult to tell if they escaped or self destructed.

Flying towards the hole in the ground that was blasted so that the metal army could reach the necrons were four transports, all 'V' shaped. Their cargo was...out of place so to speak.

The thing that they were hauling was massive, a bulbous behemoth the size of a small titan. It's form was akin to a maggot, primarily black and grey a ring of diamond shaped plates surrounded the area in-between it's head and body. The head itself had five red slits for eyes and a lamprey like mouth. Ascending from it's back where eight chimney like stalks that spewed forth a grey smog.

The vessels ceased a few miles away from the 'entrance', the cables attached to the massive creature straining as the beast was lowered down.

The cables snapped, the titanic beast writhed as it roared It's maw opening.

The thing let loose a tide of black from it's mouth, the obsidian flood rushed forth into the hole. The black fluid flowed hither and tither as it rushed through the cavern, In little time the tidal wave of nanomachines had crashed into the necron structures. The living metal fighting a desperate struggle against the cell sized swarms.

Any necrons caught in the black sea fell into it from the sheer speeds that it flowed at, disappearing under the waves.

Taldeer couldn't help but feel... disappointed?, insulted?. She didn't know, the fact that the machine had so trivially dealt with the necrons while her own species was quite literally made to fight them and even then still dealt with heavy losses. She had expected a response similar to the one he had given to the forces of chaos on the planet, perhaps there was more at play.

"I'd suggest an audience." kyr spoke "considering all he went through just to confirm your presence amongst the tau shows that he knows what you are capable of...".

"Or." she said "he is afraid...he knows something, somehow i am apart of it.".

"Perhaps. We can stay no longer, farseer. The machines are near."

With that kyr left her side and made his way back to the ship that they had used to get there.

While her entourage had made way she stood there.

What she saw was... worrying.

It was humanoid, covered in black and blue armour. The strangest thing about it was both the 'belt', if it could be called such, and the upsidedown 'A' on its helm's face.

Unexpectedly, it turned to look in her direction.

The two remained looking at eachother for a time before it just... vanished.

She was concerned, walking back to the ship taldeer couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Everything that her visions showed her were becoming more and more evident to be...wrong, she would need to act now.

A farseer's visions were but only one component of the choice that they made that could very well decide the fate of their entire race, one wrong move or prediction could lead to thousands of eldar deaths.

Indeed. An audience was in order.


	8. Supplementary chapter

Supplementary chapter: Phalanx.

The second largest class of drone, the large, bulky phalanx is the shield and siege engine of the iron legion.

Large, bulky and heavily armoured, the phalanxes role in the legions of hades is to be the shield that all of their foes break against. Their spherical, bulbous shoulders house both a shield emitter and when needed, an energy lance.

The reason behind their role as siege engines is thanks to their durability, weight and Strength allowing them to grapple with the likes of dreadnoughts, battlesuits and other large infantry unit's.

The equipment that the phalanx bear include deployable shields attached to their large forearms that they can wield like melee weapons in their clamp like three digit hands, along with that they can warp and fuse their arm's together to form large shields that they can merge with other phalanxes.

A weakness of the phalanx would be it's exposed, unprotected spine. While it is possible to maneuver around the phalanx, the machine would simply rotate it's torso to face whoever did.

Usually, they're deployed at defensive points or as a front line defence or even as bodyguards.


	9. Chapter eight

chapter eight: Down time

It was what one would expect from an idyllic beach resort.

All around people were having fun, people sunbathing, kids running around or building beach castles, people out swimming or surfing.

And then there was me, riding a motorcycle.

Why, you ask?.

Well, the answer is chasing me right now.

 _"_ _MARRY ME!!."._

 _"NOOO!!."._

Yep, getting chased by a salamander...

Thought I'd have some fun, y'know, load up a monster girl. One that i wouldn't need to constantly get rid of and instead could just punch repeatedly, Purley for fun definitely not to vent or anything...

Sand was shot up into the air by our chase, she was practically an inferno at this point leaving a trail of glass behind her. I went faster, air rushing past and messing up my hair, this is actually pretty great. Faster, faster, faster, faster.

Then i was flying through the air.

Stupid sand.

Wait. Where's my?, oh... that's flipping really fast...wonder how far it can-wow, that is A lot of sand.

...why can't i move...

Oh yeah, monster girl...

Crap...

"Now then... About our marriage." she started as her hand hovered over my shorts.

This is gonna be hilarious.

"Hey, senpai!".

"Holy crap!?".

She came out of nowhere and with one punch sent the salamander flying.

"Eh?, getting chased around by a girl like that, i didn't know you were into that kind of stuff".

Wow, even a twinkle.

"Not really. I just wanted something to punch and one thing lead to another, what's this about?".

"Zero's finished analysing that sword you found. No chaos corruption what so ever, but there was something strange about it".

"And that is?".

"It seems to have something similar to a soul. Zero's theorised that it's the type of weapon that was used enough to were it started fueling itself with souls".

That sounds ominously badass.

"Right. say, you wouldn't happen to know where he is right no-!?".

What the hell are you wearing!?.

Too much skin, that's way too much skin!.

"Oh?, your eyes seem to be wandering a bit" she sighed "honestly, your so helpless sometimes".

Where the hell did you even get that swimsuit!?, dear god why is there so much cleavage!?.

...why did she look so smug?.

"Good!, looks like your still your degenerate weirdo self senpai".

"...and why is that good?".

"Well, people in your situation don't adjust properly. It should be obvious to you, the human mind doesn't adjust instantly to a new non human body. The hell engine developed an A.I, me, specifically to maintain your mental health to avoid rendering your symbiotic relationship mutually non beneficial".

"Even though I'm an hyper evolved A.I that doesn't mean I've moved on from such a limiting purpose, it's become...i think 'instinctual' is the best way to describe it now. Anyways, the fact that you use so many physical form's is definitely a good sign. Still...go and throw away your humanity and this impish kohai will beat it back into you!, got it senpai?".

... alright...i think.

I got up from the sand and dusted myself off.

"As i was saying, you know where zero is?".

"He's in the same place where he always is, it's honestly depressing how much he's like you".

"What was that!?."

"Nothing~see you later hades!" she was already running to the water.

The space next to me opened into a black slit, as i approached it expanded into a rectangular 'hole'. Passed through i turned around, it was jarring. Both the simulation and the hallway contrasted exponentially in my vision, the beach with it's colour, life and peacefulness contrasted greatly with the hallway's black wall's, even though it was made of nanomachines it seemed to betray a sense of life as the wall's each had a perfectly mirrored 'rib' structure at it's centre. Jutting out from floor to ceiling, the hallway had a sense of... normalcy, of it just feeling right to be in.

The 'exit' closed behind me as i walked down the hallway, eventually arcane runes soon began to glow across the walls as i went further down eventually ending in a circular entrance.

It was something else, holograms of simulated planets floated around the place one after another like bubbles in a bath. The centre piece of the circular room was the simulated universe, curating it all was zero.

He stood at the centre shifting through who knew how many simulation's at a time. "I thought you'd take a little more time enjoying your...'time off' as you called it" didn't even bother to turn around.

"Well, it was that or dealing with BB for more than a few minutes and i cannot deal with that nightmare...So!, about that sword".

"Ah yes, that" he seemed to stop with whatever he was doing and moved or rather glided to where the sword was kept. It was hard looking at this without feeling like I'm about to be monologued at, the appearance he decided to go with didn't help either.

Tanned skin along with white hair that reached the floor, clad in black, red and white robes, two intricate piece's of metal that kina looked like sleeves and a braid of his hair over his shoulder.

Zero, or rather alternative zero was originally designed as a means to counter the eldar if i ever found myself against them, the idea was to create a world engine to simulate an endless number of potential future's to muddle with their ability to see the future. While i never figured out how to implement the interfering with clairvoyance part, i did however create the first A.I in the forty first millennium that didn't try to kill anything in fact as soon as i activated zero he gained self awareness in the span of a femptosecond.

After that i gained both a method of developing new technology through observing simulated universe's and adding the respective variable and someone to talk to who wouldn't mess with me...i think i have a problem... probably nothing.

Then there was the sword.

The weapons formation was oddly organic in appearance, the handle helixed from the spike like pommel to the twisting hand guard where the blade extended from. The blade itself was two pieces, both blades poking out from the sides and then curving inward to then go upwards into a straight line ending in a respective point both curving in opposite to the other.

"So you said it was soul fuelled".

"That was my initial hypothesis, while it is soul fuelled this is more along the lines of soul's acting less as fuel for the sword itself but more for in use".

Well, that was something.

"It seems to operate on system that allows it to reinforce it's structure through the gathering of soul's along with enhancing it's function as a weapon. Looking at it all together i am suspicious of this system...as though we're only seeing half of it".

Wait...

Using soul's to reinforce and as fuel for attacks?, i feel like I've heard about something like that...i definitely know I've seen something similar...so why can't i remember?.

No point in thinking about that, still...i wonder.

"Zero. Do you think this is... compatible with the hell engine?".

"Compatible?...hmm" his eyes closed for a moment "perhaps. risky but possible...why?" his eyes opening as he responded.

Risky...but possible, huh. Yeah, i like those odds.

"What if the other half of this system involves having... let's say a 'user', so considering how durable the hell engine is we don't need to worry about 'me' getting too damaged. If this succeeds though... then we could be a step closer to what's going on".

"I see. Well, if you somehow die at least whoever has to deal with you will have something to laugh their ass off about."

Heh, i guess so.

My avater dispersed into the trillions of nanites that formed it as zero took hold of the sword.

"Master~ i thought maybe because of hades telling us to do as we wished on his day off, i thought perhaps you could spend some quality time with your dear tammamo chan?".

He didn't even look as he pushed her out of the way.

"Quite woman, i need to stab hades with this magic sword for science".

Zero walked out of his workshop, going down corridor after twisting corridor he soon arrived at where my core was kept.

Said core was held within the massive new form of my commander chassis that I've ALMOST finished. Godamn arms.

Stairs formed as he moved up to the massive mecha's chest, the machines torso opened to reveal black musculature that receded uncovering the metal ribcage of the commander's torso that parted.

There it sat, a large metal sphere with a red circle in the middle, said circle had three plates in a 'Y' formation covering it slightly.

Zero reversed his grip to hold the blade underhand and readied to plung it into my brain/heart/consciousness container...i should come up with a better description for this thing.

"If i die I'm gonna haunt the hell outta your ass".

"If you die in the first place".

With that he brought the sword do-.


	10. Chapter nine

Chapter nine: The truth hidden by fog, SIN.

-wn...wait.

Where the hell am i?.

Wait...what?.

Why do i have a body?.

And this feeling...this warmth...am i human again?...

I stood up and looked around, tree's... lots of fog...more tree's...well this isn't good.

Fuck, i can barely see for shit...screw it. I'm just gonna walk until i hit something.

/

How long has it been?.

This fog can't be _that_ dense, right?.

Feels like hour's since i got here...i wonder how the others are doing.

I think it's night, the fog was darker.

Then the sound of something cracking echoed around me.

What?.

There was something behind me, the entire tree was snapped off from the trunk with only a few pieces of bark connecting the two together. And the thing that did it...

Snaking, jagged, writhing strand's of grey, metal?, formed the creature's vaguely humanoid form. The two red dots in it's void like eye sockets starred back, it's skeletal jaw opening to give out a deep, low growl accompanied by steam that trailed away off to the right.

This thing...how. How was something like this even possible!?.

My eyes darted about as i tried to look for something, anything to defend myself with.

Nothing, shit.

I backed slowly, should i run? obviously but what if it followed me. Can this thing even die?.

It's pace was consistent, i quickened my pace and it did too in kind.

I turned around and broke into a sprint hoping to get away from it as best i could.

Except...

I tripped.

Before i knew it, the thing was looming over me. It was a natural reaction to try and shield myself with my arms in some fight or flight fueled adrenaline rush, my scream was also expected.

It raised it's arm, poised to strike at me.

I screamed, eyes screwed shut.

My only sight, darkness. The only sound i heard, my own screams. It was like this for a few minutes before curiosity at my continued survival overtook.

I opened my eyes.

And was met by a burst of blood.

The beast was cleaved, from head to groin a crimson gash ran down it's body.

It wasn't just on my face.

My hand shot back from the ground, something lukewarm was there.

More, pooling blood.

So...much...blood.

The smell... the sight... nauseating...

What?...why?...

Dear god...It all came running back to me...

I... can't...i... can't...

What have i done...

/

The sight was certainly odd.

A man, barely an adult.

A thing of metal, born of nightmares.

One dead the other unconscious.

The creatures remains had Hours ago dissolved into ash before her arrival. The man unconscious in a pool of still fresh blood.

Considering her waifish builld, it was most definitely suspicious that she was able to carry him off with little apperant effort.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter ten: Meeting.

Groggily, slowly. I came to.

Where did the fire come from?.

...why am i on a log?.

As i looked around to gain my bearings that was when i saw her.

The light of the impromptu camp fire had helped illuminate her features, a haunting sense of beauty eminated off of her.

Somehow, she seemed to fit the definition of perfect...well perfectly. The way she looked, the way that white dress moved with her body, her frail doll like appearance.

So beautiful.

Terrifyingly beautiful.

So...Other...

She noticed me.

Silver locks pushed aside, looking at me.

Those eyes... there was a kind of... emptiness to them, both her eyes and face were devoid of any discernable emotion.

"... Your awake...".

That cold voice so softly spoken... Devoid of emotion much like her face.

"...Who are you?".

"...Eris...".

"...Where are we?".

"...I... don't know...".

"...How long have you been here?".

"...I... don't know...".

Great, just great. I meet a mysterious waif and she knows about as much as i do about this shit hole...

At least she's disturbingly attractive.

As if i didn't have enough on my plate already...

/

It had been what i think to be a few days since i met eris, we had travelled together across this seemingly endless forest of fog.

Along our journey we had ran into what eris had called nightmares, she seems to have the bad habit of knowing things and not knowing why.

The things seemed to vary in every category. Some were vaguely humanoid while others were masses of jagged and warped shapes in the vague outline of something that resembled an animal.

Or not even bother being something that could feasibly exist.

Avoiding them was the norm, i know that sword did something to me but I'm not keen on nearly dying to find out what. Eris... I'm not sure about.

Currently, we had set up a temporary camp, eris was sitting near the fire...she seemed to do that with the previous camp's but i haven't been around long enough to know if she just...does that.

Me?, I'm experimenting.

Something was definitely different, there was this... feeling, like there was something in me that didn't...belong i guess but...was able to... fit in. It was difficult to explain, but this thing...that sword...was _still there_. _In me_. How?, I'm honestly not sure.

But...

I can use it.

It's almost like a hunch, i know i can use it, it's the _how_ that's the problem.

The tree could work as target practice.

I lifted my right arm up and splayed my hand at it...

...And kept at it...

... Really wish i could tell what time it was...

"...What are you doing?".

..."Trying to figure out how to use the magic sword that got stabbed into me".

"...Hmmm, i see".

Like that wasn't suspicious at all...

With a sigh i let my arm fall to my side, if gestures don't work then let's try that...

In my mind, i visualised it.

The sword.

It's form, every detail, had been burned into my mind. Perhaps thanks to the process?.

Next, i visualised my surroundings. Eris, the camp, the forest and the tree.

Moment of truth.

With everything set, i let the sword lash at the tre-.

My concentration was broken, and my mind returned to what seemed to be reality... maybe.

Well...guess it works.

The sudden sound of bark exploding that brought me out of my test did indeed come from my test dummy.

The tree was now sporting a large gash of spilntered bark, considering it's depth i had to say that the blade must have cut pretty deep.

"...Hmmm...".

... What.

I turned to eris, obviously she saw the whole thing but... really?.

"...You seriously didn't just go 'hmmm' at a tree getting exploded by a magic ghost mind sword...Right?".

"...What if i did?, it _does_ sound interesting... could be more if i could see it".

Y'know, i wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly turned out to be the reason why I'm even here right now, or for all the time I've had to spend as a nano tech war machine.

... Okay scratch that second one.

I turned back to the tree and concentrated once more

/

I think I'm making progress.

If the tree now ragged stump is anything to go by.

With each go i got better, the process going faster and faster. At this point it was as easy as moving my arms.

The fire's been dying down so i think a good few hours have went by, maybe... really hate this place.

Eris was already walking to me.

"Let's go".

"I've been wondering, where are you going?. It's practically impossible to navigate this place".

She stopped.

"There's... somewhere i need to go. We're definitely on the right path to there...i just know...".

This is seriously getting annoying.

Just knowing things without really knowing why...

I wish there was something i could do to hepl...

Wait...

"What is it?".

"Thought i heard something."

/

She watched from behind a tree as the two walked away.

"He's progressed this much...what are you planning?".

"Mugen...".


	12. Chapter eleven

Chapter eleven: ...I hear a sound...

"Get behind me!".

Like today couldn't get anyworse.

The day seemed almost hopeful, just me and eris travelling no nightmares to avoid...and then we ran into one.

I'm not really sure what it was supposed to be...a centipede?.

It was high in the air, the four crimson orb's that were it's eyes stared at us. It's form a jagged, twisting mass of metal reminiscent of a centipede..wait... are...are does _gun's!?_.. _IT HAS GUNS FOR LEGS!?._

Shit.

It loomed Above, posied to strike.

I did my best to shield eris, hopefully it might miss and we'll be able...to...run...

The nightmare seemed to just...stop...it was still ready to attack but appeared to have stopped moving.

Was this some kind of trap?, was it baiting us?, was it waiti- Aaaaaaaaaaaaand that's a lot of blood.

The massive beast let out a painful roar from it's mandibled maw as geysers of blood shot out from it's head.

Without warning it's head and most of it's body were cleaved in two... somehow.

Whilst the two halves fell...i saw it.

The parted, black sphere spilling red as it fell. An all to familiar formation upon its split form.

With the fall of it's corpse massive clouds of dirt were shot up into the foggy air, then a splash.

Something had landed.

No.

Someone.

A pale blonde with equally pale skin, covered in black and white with a chakram as large as her in hand.

Stains of red where on her here and there but she was mostly spotless...

shit.

Like things weren't bad enough already.

"I'm surprised you've survived so long out here."

Turning around, i was met by her red eyes.

Her young appearance was a stark contrast to her more mature voice.

The sword was ready, i could use that to buy time.

"What?, you really think I'm going to attack you? I'm honestly curious how you'd think such a thing".

Oh i don't know, maybe the giant corpse surrounding us might not help make a good impression?.

"...Who are you".

"My name is one".

Oh fuck.

Oh shit.

I knew i recognised her, if she's here...god please let her be the only...one.

"You are?".

"This is eris, i call myself hades".

"Really?, quite an odd name for someone so... average".

Like one isn't a weird name, at least i didn't start calling myself that, well i guess going with it isn't any better.

"Still...How is it that you've been avoiding these creatures. Your no fighter, the girl either".

Maybe she really is the only...one.

"... Hiding from...and avoiding them..".

"...I see, that is one way of handling them. I was going ask that we would travel together, but considering your earlier reaction".

With someone like her this whole thing would be a walk in the park, but this IS one so she could know more than what she's letting on or planning something.

Damn.

"No, we should. More's the merrier right?".

"Good. I've made a makeshift camp a while back, we should head there and exchange what we know about this place".

That was a good idea, but actually navigating this place?.

"Wait, you've been navigating this place and not gotten lost?. Kinda hard not to call bullshit on that".

"I can understand, it's mostly just keeping an eye on the tree's. They tend to follow a pattern depending on direction".

...God i hate this place.

With nothing much else to do we followed one.

As usual it was hard to tell how long it was we were walking for. Minutes?, Hour's? ever since i got here it was like this bizarre world was actively working against everyone in it.

The number of tree's began to become more and more frequent, the fog gave way to a dark path of condensed tree's. The only source of light was the lantern that one had on her, this place had grass if the edges of the dirt path where anything to go by...neat.

After sometime of walking, i saw it.

Peeking through small gaps between the trees, light.

The familiar orange of fire.

The gaps became more frequent and larger as we got closer to the camp...wait..

was that... talking?.

There where more people here?.

Finally we reached it.

"Oh, one!. Your back!".

Oh god it's the rest of them.


	13. Chapter twelve

Chapter Twelve: Full Metal Panic.

Okay.

Okay, no need to panic.

Just stay calm.

Your just... surrounded by people who could kill you with little... effort or reason...

That was my situation more or less.

"Dinner's ready!".

Or maybe not... hopefully.

The dinner in question was a good looking soup with...black lumps that...well it looked edible.

now that i think about It, i haven't actually eaten or tried to eat anything since i decided to cool off.

Maybe it was the hell engine while in the process of informing parts of my mind, or because of the realisation of what i had at my disposal.

Well, no point in over thinking things.

The black stuff looked like it had the same consistency of meat yet when i stabbed it with my spoon it had the same effect as stabbing through cream. Weird, i was able to get some of the soup in as i took my first bite in forever.

This...This taste!!.

The english language couldn't even come close to having the ability to describe what i was experiencing.

Hell, i was even crying!.

"Ar-are you alright!?, it's not poisonous i-is it an allergy?".

"...No, it's just... I've never tasted food this great before...".

"Really?, thank goodness. For a second there i thought you might've died from that".

And the chef that cooked such an experience.

Two.

Yep, much like one she and their other sister's had numbers for names. Even had the roman numerals them on their foreheads.

The girl in blue with a sigh of relief sat back down, cute scarf.

"Say, where did you find this stuff. This place doesn't seem like the kind that's plentiful in game".

"Oh!, that stuff. I kinda just just take all the stuff that looks like meat from those nightmares".

"... That's... concerning...".

"Don't worry much about it, this isn't the first time two's worked with weird ingredients and make something edible".

Of all the times you choose to chime in, besides that four was, in comparison, the most normal out of them and at least bothered to explain a thing or two.

"Right...is she just gonna sleep there or...".

I shifted my attention from the girl in green to the one clad in purple.

I haven't seen her do anything but sleep, it's kind of worrying.

"Don't worry about three, she's actually the most active out of us to be honest".

Really?, she looked pretty deep in her sleeping.

"... Really?".

"When it involves something she's interested in...or doll's".

My food was finished in no time, i was a quick eater. As all of this happened one looked on, what was she thinking, planning possibly?. It was hard to tell, out of all of them she'd definitely be the one to keep an eye on.

Even when we had exchanged as much information as we knew about this forest i wasn't sure if she was telling everything, she could be planning something that might bite me in the ass or she knows what's going on but isn't saying for some weird reason.

My thoughts were broken however, a sudden weight had forced itself on me. How i was caught unawares is beyond me.

"It must have been quite the little adventure you had, though...i am curious".

Oh god.

"Didn't you ever try to get a little...intimate?, i mean being around an attractive young woman isn't exactly easy to deal with for a young man like yourself, right?".

Nope.

Nope, Nope, Nope, definitely Nope.

"Get off me!, and what the hell kind of question is that!?".

"What, traveling around like this it's only natural that you and your friend would mess around, right?".

Oh my god, of all the things to talk about why do you pick sex?, like why.

This pervert was five, she was the youngest out of the...well, five yet looked the oldest. It's complicated.

"... please leave".

She sighed "fine, oh! if you hear any... suggestive sounds while you're sleeping, well i think we both know who's making them".

When where there tent's?.

After a while, all that remained around the fire were myself, eris, the still sleeping three and one...now that I'm thinking about it, why would they need to sleep?. Ever since i got here I've never once felt tired or sleepy, even when i was human being actually tired was rare for me.

"There's a structure that we've found...for whatever reason it resembles a cathedral".

Without warning, one began to speak.

"It's in the north, coincidentally the same direction i found you two going in".

She spoke as she walked over to three and lifted her up.

"We'll be heading there in the morning, maybe we'll find some answers there".

With that she helped her sister to her tent and then went to her own.

Hopefully, this'll be short.


	14. Chapter thirteen

Chapter Thirteen: D.Y.N

"So...what should we expect?".

We've made some good progress after a surprisingly banter filled morning, well morning in their case, still trying to wrap my head around that.

While it may have seemed like alot at the time, the tent's and other item's they had, i should probably ask about that. Where surprisingly easy to pack up, i carried most of it... I'd say to be useful..but i was more forced to honestly...

"The number of nightmares around here does radically differ from time to time, usually their manageable".

With one leading ahead through the fog it was a nice change of pace from having to blindingly wander through.

Though, i couldn't help but feel... uncomfortable.

Eris was trailing behind, two, five and four where Infront talking and that left me in the middle.

With three.

Lethargic, melancholic, seemingly on the verge of suddenly falling asleep and a sense of general uninterest. Few of the words i could use to describe the girl that i awkwardly walked with.

I just hoped i wouldn't have to talk to her, i couldn't really think of anything and i wasn't sure if she'd just say something that probably only made sense to her.

"Hmmm...how did you get that body?".

...Shit.

"...Huh?".

"Considering how you're walking you've been traveling for a full week, without rest. Not to mention how you haven't once slept, it's possible but the human body doesn't function properly after something like that. Its been modified in some manner, right?. Endurance is obvious enough but you'd need to enhance the bodies durability to take into consideration the toll such non stop activity would take on the muscular system and organ's, not to mention the psychological stress from being awake constantly thus facilitating the need to enhance one's mental endurance as well".

...This girl...

I couldn't help but blink, didn't even stop for breath's.

But, three did bring up some things that definitely were concerning.

"...well...i..uh..kinda stabbed myself with this sword i found...if that answers your question...".

"...Hmm, i see".

What kind of answer was that!?.

But, knowing three she'd probably retort with something like that.

I slowed my pace, letting the conversation and myself drift away from having to finish it.

"Am i really making you THAT uncomfortable?".

...I can't seriously be THAT obvious...right?...why do i feel like an open book being broadcasted across the globe twenty-four-seven...

"It's not your fault exactly, it's not everyday I'm around women who're both extremely attractive and extremely dangerous to be around".

Hopefully that sufficed enough as an answer.

Considering how i doubt I'd be getting an answer what with the spikes exploding from the ground.

I dropped everything i was carrying and made a beeline for eris, i could at least protect her while the others handled the nightmares.

"What the hells going on!?".

"An ambush!, everyone be careful!".

The jagged spikes let out cracks as they continued to rise, then they lashed out.

The intoners were already hacking away at the metallic tentacles which attempted to skewer them in response.

But, it didn't matter how quickly or how much the tentacles moved or thrashed about. The five women were practically dancing around them, cutting, piercing and punching everything that attacked.

Their speed, the strength behind every blow...It was in an entirely different league that i could only call super human.

A cloud of dust and dirt exploded behind her.

Shit!.

I got to eris and pushed her out of the way...

In time for the jagged tentacles to skewer me.

"Guh!?".

It was forced up my throat, more and more filled it up. I struggle to cough it out, i practically vomited it all over myself.

That oh so familiar, yet oh so other thing...

Blood.

The crimson fluid was spewed everywhere in my reflexive fit to clear my bodies air ways.

And it glared at me.

The nightmare left the cloud of dirt, it's six red dots looking at me with a silent hate. It's dark, jagged form was another reminder of how alien they were. It's entire lower body disappeared under the ground, the things tentacles were extending from pod like spikes that comprised it's shoulders with more of them stabbed into the ground.

I returned it's glare gladly.

Even though it didn't have facial features besides it's eyes, i couldn't help but feel like the damn thing had a smug look on it's face. Like it thought it had the upper hand because of something that even a bug could do.

With shaking hands i grabbed on to the tentacles piercing through my chest and gripped as tightly as my hands could.

Pulling them was out of the question, so that left me with quite the problem so to speak.

There was one thing i could try, but i wasn't sure it would work.

Damn, the thing was reading to strike.

Claw's bared, it let loose it's fist at me.

And i let loose the sword.

The arm was cleaved in two, the inner half giving way as the spiritual blade carved it's way to the nightmare. It's head and torso two were separated at an odd angle, blood exploded from it's fresh wounds as the things carved up body flopped to the ground.

With another swing i was able to separate most of the tentacle that was stabbed into me from the rest, i could move now but that didn't help having both my lungs pierced through.

I stumbled to a nearby tree, hopefully the others would find me before i bleed out-.

"Bgleh!?".

What.

I looked down.

Punchiering through my abdomen...was...

fucking ridiculous...

A tree branch...

A godamn tree branch.

I let out a pained, wet grunt as i was forcefully picked up...by the tree.

The damn tree...was a nightmare.

/

"He's awake!".

Do they have to be so loud...

Wait...how am i?...

I checked myself over as I sat up, besides my bloody ruined shirt i was practically spotless.

My wounds were gone.

"What happened".

"It was an ambush" One started "This level of coordination and planning isn't normal, to be honest there's much we don't know about them. We were able to take care of the nightmares, even that tree".

"We...we thought you were going to die... Falling a good few feet away from the ground, let alone how wounded you were...but when we found you, you were fine!".

Well, i at least know who woke me up. Two was beside me and was probably taking care of me while i was unconscious, it definitely paid to have someone like her around.

"Yes...fine, but at the moment that's a topic for another time. Can you walk?".

"More or less, maybe we should figure things out at the cathedral, actually how much farther until we get there anyways?".

"Not long now, we've divvied most of our supplies which leaves you with a lighter load. There's no telling if this is superficial or not so don't overexert yourself".

Our conversation over and supplies in hand we continued on our way, but i had this weird feeling. I'm not sure why or how it started, as we kept walking it kept getting more and more harder to ignore, a growing, nagging feeling like...

Like i forgot something.

I'm not sure what exactly...but it felt important, in some way.

Wha?...

This feeling...what...

Suddenly, i was overcome by an absolute miasma. Such dread, pain, rage, despair...sadness?. A miasmic vortex of such intensity that i felt as though i would shatter under it any time now.

"We're here".

I could barely call what was before me an cathedral.

What was before us was a building formed from an amalgam of... bone's. Bone's, bone's, bone's, bone's without number... skeletons without number.

Human skeletons.

Skeletons interconnected and grasping eachother formed it's wall's, the same could well describe the 'cathedral's' tower's, Skeletons joined to form them. Skeletons protruded from the unnatural building, limp and lifeless, some hung from chain's. Worse than this was the rest of the 'building'.

Skeletons of gargantuan size hunched over massive spears that they held onto, And holding those spears as well was what i could only call an undead king.

Horn's protruding from it's head like a crown, skeletal body parts forming something akin to armour across it's form, the rest of which disappeared underneath a sea of hundreds of thousands of skulls.

The overwhelming miasmic storm flowed forth from it, spilling from every nook, gap, cranny and any other space it could spill through. It was sickening, as though my very being was submerged in the vilest of sludges with no reprieve from it.

"Hey, Hades...are you alright?, you don't look so good".

"... I'm fine two, no need to get worried over me".

I was nauseous, i can't remember the last time i was this sick. I couldn't help but find this ironic, i got used to a body that would never experience such things that, i was more or less crippled by something i would normally be able to soldier through.

I was trying my best as we got closer to it, a cold sweat came over me, hopefully none of them would notice.

The double door we came across was ridiculous, it was the size of a small building and like the rest of the damn thing was made of skeletons. There were handles but too high up to grab without something to act as a support or direct access.

"Great, we get ambushed, i almost die and the thing that stops us is a stupid door".

Honestly I'm pretty close to just calling all of this bullshit out, not to mention how I'm also close to vomiting up my organ's and then some.

"And?, it'd be a real problem if the door was trying to kill us".

"Wha?-".

Oh my god.

Did she...did she seriously just...

To my utter shock and amazement, one walked up to the giant bone door and _kicked it open._

One kick.

Just one and she got it open.

... honestly, i shouldn't be surprised by what these girl's do, yet i somehow keep getting surprised.

With the doors open we made our way in, jarringly the interior was completely different from the exterior. A stone floor was accompanied by a carpet of some kind that i couldn't see the end of, stone pillars parallel with the stone walls.

And yet...

I was practically at my breaking point, i felt like i was going to drop any second.

The miasma seemed to get worse.

I tried to walk forward...but couldn't, why? i could at least push a few steps out of myself before...ah, so i collapsed...

If that's the case...

Why am i bleeding?...


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter fourteen: Freaks

Groggily, i slowly came to.

I don't know how but...that sickening miasma was gone.

Wait...aw shit, where am i now!?.

From what i could see i was in a forest, a proper one this time with leaves and grass and... fireflies?, i think.

There was still a fog, but far lighter than the previous one in comparison but...

I looked up.

And was left breathless.

It was quite possibly the most beautiful night sky i had ever seen, a rainbow of purples, pinks and blues adorned with uncountable star's twinkling amongst the kaleidoscope of what galaxies i could see.

And the moon...

"Enjoying the view?".

"Wha-?".

I turned around to face whoever was behind me.

She was a young woman or seemed to be, i couldn't properly tell. Her outfit was bizarre to say the least, it showed too much and left nothing to the imagination...

...I couldn't help but find her suspicious, as far as i could tell we were the only people here though in her case...i don't think 'person' could apply.

"... Wait...i...could have sworn i was...".

"Dying?, you were more or less. No need to thank me but~ i do appreciate praise now and again so go ahead if you'd like".

Now that I'm remembering, i checked myself over. To my shock my once tattered and bloody clothes were practically good as new, whatever injury i sustained was gone too...

...Too good, this was too good to believe, either I'm actually dead or...

"If you really did save me, how?".

"Hmm... Nothing much, i just stopped time, reversed your's and brought you here. Pretty simple huh".

...Did she really...

...Why am i surprised...

"You... stopped time..." i let out an annoyed sigh "Alright, well where the hell are we?".

"The other side, nowhere else to go really".

"Other side?".

"Well, not the 'other side' as in afterlife, sort of" she started "How do i put this?...okay, so the forest you're familiar with, the one you've been running all around is formed by two sides, the one you know is the 'physical'. A place where mindless, soulless bodies constantly kill eachother, die and get back up to start the whole thing over and over again, This is the 'spiritual'. Something that can best be described as a resting place for those called...".

The word she spoke left me frozen.

Not because of the word itself, but the ramifications...the realisation of the true scope that my new 'life' if such a thing could be called life held.

"...Hades".

"Hades...you don't mean...!?".

That eerie grin of hers and herself had taken on a more unnerving feeling than she already gave off, just what the hell is she.

"I'm not quite sure you'd understand it but your not the only you that's running around calling yourself that. This has been going on for quite some time now, 'hades' popping up somewhere and keeping to themselves...for a while".

Her smug expression never left her face as continued to explain, it was all too difficult for me to believe 'that's bullshit!', 'impossible!', 'you're probably lying, monster!'...and yet, deep down somehow...i knew she was right.

"Then they start causing trouble. A genocide here, a conquest there, some go insane and just kill everything around them, some try to 'help' by taking over and running everything like a machine".

I moved back a few steps as she jumped off the tree she was sitting on, now on the ground with me she walked over to my side and...sat down... she's definitely worse than BB.

There wasn't much to do around from what i could see so i just sat down with her as we both gazed at the night sky.

that was what i was going to do, before i noticed it next to her.

A nightmare...no...a hades.

submerged in the ground and practically drowning in overgrowth. I couldn't help but wonder...who was he?, was he like me?, was our choice in false name's the only thing we had in common?. What journey did he take to eventually lie here, what choices did he make and what were their consequences, who did he have to face along his path. All these and more as questions swarmed my mind, this wasn't a corpse to brush aside...this was...IS...a person...a ME...who went through what I've been experiencing and probably did so much that could from even my perspective be called miracles or magic, but here he lay...i wonder...what he's dreaming about.

"...Why...".

That's all i could ask.

"Why... the answers difficult but the underlying reason is all the same".

I was sitting with her now, both of us gazing at the star's.

"They gave up".

"What?."

"they gave up, simple as that. There are just something's that even you can't handle, they kept going, kept fighting, kept living until they couldn't handle it anymore and wanted a way out. Some tried finding someone or something that could kill them, hard to do when everything that could is already long gone. Others tried to live as far away as possible from any other being in seclusion like that would work, some went dormant and never moved again. It always starts differently but end's the same way, they always end up here".

Always...

No.

I wasn't going to let it end here, i couldn't. After all there were a few idiots i couldn't just leave alone and get into trouble, not to mention whoever tried to kill me could go after one and her sisters. I couldn't just leave them with something like that after all the help they've been.

"How do i leave".

Her smug look had fallen, confusion and curiosity had taken it's place and the unnerving sense I felt from her seemed to waver for the slightest moment.

"Leave?, in all my life here not once did I ever thought I'd hear those word's uttered. There is a way to leave this place, in fact it's probably the easiest thing to do here. The problem for you however is where it is".

"And that would be?".

"The same place you almost died, of course".

That place again...

It was all to suspicious, I couldn't help but think about what had happened and how it did. Every time it kept coming back to the same conclusion over and over again, I couldn't help but ask...

"The cathedral...when you saved me, did you see?".

Even if I didn't want to know...

"Who did it, attack me".

"Oh?, that. Surprised you didn't ask about that first, it was-".

Even if it was the truth.

" -one".

Even though I knew, i couldn't help but wonder why.

Why did she try to kill me?, there was nothing I did that I could recall that would justify trying to kill me or anything else for that matter. It didn't make any sense, which I could use to describe everything that's happened ever since I woke up.

I was missing something, something important. This entire place...this forest was a resting place for different versions of myself, possibly made by another me or this girl, was it related to that? perhaps. One did know about her and her sisters true nature as intoners, if I remember right, so it wouldn't have been suspicious if she figured something out about this place...or whoever got me in this mess in the first place.

I needed to know.

Why did she try to kill me.

How to get out of here.

And...if I could get them out too.

"... Alright, so...how am I supposed to..?".

"Oh, right!. I'll handle that, but before you go" she replied as we both stood up, walking over she placed a hand on my chest I wasn't sure why but I was quickly answered by a... uncomfortable sensation, as though something utterly foreign had entered by very being and just as quickly, left.

"It's not much but it should do for now".

Space itself distorted next to me.

An infinitely folding space that folded in on itself infinitely, tearing into a space beyond space, which in turn continually distorted upon itself opening into something that could only be described as a shape that gave way to...to...to...

I didn't know.

"There, walk through this and you'll back like you never left".

It was hard for me to believe her, but she has done nothing but help me, she didn't seem like the type to screw me over for no reason either.

Breath in, breath out.

I steeled myself as I stepped through.

And like that.

I was back there.

The doors loomed before me, opened as though to draw me in. I walked forward into the cathedral's abyss, the miasma that overwhelmed me before was practically nonexistent now as though the cripplingly hurricane of emotions that overwhelmed me before were not but a distant unwelcome memory, was it because of her and whatever she did to me?.

My surroundings had become pitch black, I continued to walk through this sea's dark depths as what had been a floor gave way to stairs and thusly I descended into the dark below.

Gold.

After walking for what felt like hours, the unwavering darkness soon began to give way to gold.

All around me was a sea of gold.

All around were the decrepit ruins of buildings, from what little I could discern they seemed to have been built near a shore or seaside.

All around were the decrepit remains of barley recognisable bodies, withered husk's drained to the bone.

Both falling in endless numbers from on high and into that...

Deep.

Deep.

Gold.

The stairs continued for a time, pitch black in contrast to the surrounding gold, and eventually ended.

Before me was a large circular platform, various rings of gold ran across the it's black surface. It was considerably sizable, a few kilometres perhaps more.

And she was there.

Four.

Spear in hand, she stood there. A breathtaking sentinel who's mere visage defeat anyone who faced her before the fight even began.

"You certainly know how to keep a girl waiting, here I was thinking you'd never come".

"Where's one".

"Not sure really" she started "we got separated when we walked in here. No clue where my sister's are, but how about you forget about them for a moment".

Slowly, she walked towards me.

It was almost like second nature.

My right hand shot up to block her spear's path, the tip barely got through my palm.

My arm, shouldn't have been able to do that.

My arm as pitch black as the night sky, shouldn't have been able to stop a spear being thrust by a superhuman.

My arm...

My arm...

No...

My...

Weapon.

Shapes shot out from my arm, no, blade's, blade's lashed out at four from my blackened limb. she had dislodged her weapon from my hand and jumped away before she could be sliced by the appendages formed from my arm.

Like a starved beast I wouldn't let her get away from me, I chased her at speeds I never knew before and grabbed her ankle.

"Wha-!?".

My fist interrupted her, smashing five's head into the ground with enough force to crack apart the unknown material.

I was over her now, one hand keeping her down the other pummeling her face over and over and over and over again.

My unrelenting assault was interrupted by her spear skewering through my abdomen.

Shit.

Blood forced itself out me, thankfully it entered at an angle and missed my spine...my right kidney and some of my intestines weren't as lucky.

I stood up, stumbled away from her as I griped the weapon. The pain left my mind in a daze and unfortunately gave five enough time to recover, before I knew it I was on the floor with a numb, bloody face.

"Graaaaahh!".

I screamed as her spear was pulled out, I winced as, instinctively, i pressed hard on my wound. I looked up at her and saw that five was as bloody and beaten as I was, but knowing how barely human the intoners were I was skeptical if she was as equally winded.

Stupid.

How the hell could I be this stupid.

I should have tried to talk.

Why...

Why did she...

Why was doing this so easy...

Closer...

Closer...

Closer...

She kept getting closer...all that blood...

I...

Please...I...I don't...

 _I don't want to lose anything else..._

I shut my eyes closed as hard as I could...

No matter how hard I wanted...this was it.

And yet, like a child I closed my eyes as if that would do anything...all I could do now...was wait...

And wait...

Wait...

Wait?...

I opened my eyes...and what I saw was something I couldn't call anything but a miracle.

Five, poised above me with spear raised to finish me off... skewered by the massive blade that was my arm, from just above her collar bones all the way down to her waist. Clattering echoed as her arm's fell limp, the only thing keeping her up was obvious, the victory, if I could call it that, was hard to swallow let alone accept.

The beating of my heart deafened my ears, copper invaded my mouth and my body was shaking.

I gasped, taking in sharp breaths as if I'd forget to if I stopped.

And there she was.

"Well...how does it feel...being this close inside someone..?".

...Even at a time like this...

"... It's...It feels wrong".

It was disgusting, wrong...it really did feel wrong, it was terrifying as well... watching the life leave her eyes.

Five went limp.

I fell back, whatever strength I had left me and caused my limbs to go limp. I gasped as if I was holding my breath for far too long.

I felt sick.

I forced myself up, arm by arm, leg by leg. I stood up on limbs that shaked and buckled, forcing a step forward I knew I didn't have the strength to stay up...Until a rush came over me as I stepped forward, renewed strength flowed through me.

Power.

It felt similar.

Like _IT'S_ power...but different.

Familiar but alien...

I didn't have the time to react or think over this new strength as a...bell?...yes, a bell. A bell rang behind me.

I turned and found...

An elevator...?.

Why would...the Gothic structure opened as though beckoning me...'keep going'...'deeper...go deeper'...

I couldn't help to give her one last glance before I entered the elevator, the machines fence like doors closed and almost instantly began to ascend, all that was in there besides me was a chair.

...I don't care what's next.

I need to get back, those idiots probably started a war by now... hopefully not... hopefully...

I looked to my arm...I can't let my feelings get in the way, even if they really are my enemies...I didn't want to fight...but...I can't just let myself keel over either, 'Geez, I can't believe you're _that_ hopeless without us, huh senpai?'... She'd probably say something like that...

Yeah...I have to fight.

I have to kill.

No hesitation.

I have to keep going...no matter what...


End file.
